Special offer from BenchtopPro – Exclusive discount of $225 + shipping if you order within the next 60 days (until March 15, 2014), just use MTBR as the discount code.

The BenchtopPRO is a bioremediating parts washer that was designed for the home shop and garage, allowing you to clean bike, vehicle and miscellaneous parts. Bioremediation is a waste management technology that involves the use of microorganisms to remove or neutralize contaminates, which in this case is the removal of dirt, grease and oils from bike parts. Most local bike stores use the same sort of system on a much grander size and price, while the BenchtopPRO shrinks everything down to a small self-contained benchtop design, that is portable and easy to use. The system uses non-hazardous, non-toxic and non-flammable degreaser with a microbial additive instead of the typical hazardous and flammable solvents for cleaning.

The BenchtopPRO kit consists of the roto molded benchtop unit, a pump with an attached hose and brush, a gallon of the BT5 degreasing solution and four MicroPro microbial packets. The BT5 degreasing solution is a pH neutral mixture of emulsifiers and surfactants containing no solvents. With the BenchtopPRO on its back, you open the latch and flip the lid out (the drying/drain rack), and fold down its metal support leg. The inner chamber of the unit contains the pump, hose, brush, washing tub and drain, and the hidden solution reservoir compartment.

The power supply and cord for the 125 gph pump are located under the pumps cover. The wall adapter connects to a normal 120 VAC socket and converts the power down to 12 VAC for the pump’s operation, and the switch is in-line on the cord. The pump has a 2′ long hose with a self-cleaning brush that has an on-off button.

Set Up

Getting the system ready for cleaning is pretty simple: add 1 gallon of the BT5 degreasing solution, 2 gallons of water and finally 1 pack of the MicroPro. To begin operation of the unit, pull the power cord and supply from the pump box, and plug it into a power source. Turn on the in-line switch and push the button on the brush, and squirt the solution on the dirty parts while using the brush to scrub off the contaminants, giving some time for the degreaser and microbes to do their work. After you have cleaned off the part and washed it off, place it on the draining and drying rack, and turn the pump off. Once everything has dried, place the power cord and supply back into the pump box, flip the support leg back up, close the lid and latch it shut. The unit can be stored on horizontally or vertically until it’s needed for another round of parts cleaning.

Brian has been part of the Mtbr team since 2007, where he has become an integral member of the review and test staff, specializing in technical articles. He likes to push the limits in all the sports he obsesses in, whether it's mountain biking, whitewater kayaking, extreme skiing, or sport climbing. He takes those same strengths and a good dose of insanity to his reviewing and writing on mountain biking products, creating technical, in-depth and hyperbolic articles. Whenever he's not on the bike, he might be found watching MotoGP racing, otherwise look for him out on extremely technical singletrack.

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$385 for a freakin parts washer? do the microbes fix scratches and chips also? maybe check harbor freight or grainger if someone needs a parts washer. typical bike industry fluff, market as an MTB product so you can charge 10x current going price.

This product is oriented towards cleaning vehicle, yard and small shop parts, but can obviously be used for cleaning bike parts. Your LBS will have some sort of parts cleaner, but it will be much larger and much more expensive. They make a large portable bike model http://www.smartbikewasher.com/ which retails for a whooping $2500. No denial it’s expensive, but it’s light, portable, easy to carry, self-contained and self-cleaning, doesn’t use nasty harsh chemicals, and comes with a 5 year warranty (and made in the USA). Definitely a gear head tool.

The ChemFree company is quite large and makes cleaning systems for automotive, industrial, government and commercial users.

Sorry Offtopic message, but the pics of that cassette is exactly what I want to build. Brian is that your XTR cassette? Did you build it up with that 42T ring from a cheaper Shimano model? I was planning to do this. Did you write that up in a blog post somewhere or have any links to a forum thread about it? Would love to know the weight as well. Sorry about being offtopic. Thanks.

The article states “the wall adapter connects to a normal 120 VAC socket and converts the power down to 12 VAC for the pump’s operation…”, so it means vac or volts alternating current. At the end under the Cons, I said “Pump can’t operate off a vehicle power plug – needs to be 12 VDC”, meaning the pump needs to be vdc or volts direct current. All I meant to say was the pump need to operate off 12 vdc not 12 vac, so that it could be run in the field off a vehicles system.